...Ignorance has lead to some of the world’s most devastating events in history; the Holocaust, World War I, and the Twin Tower attack on the eleventh of September 2001. Consequently, Fahrenheit 451, written by Ray Bradbury has multiple examples of destruction and how it was caused because of a uniform society. The society in Fahrenheit 451 is constructing itself to lead to a horrific event because citizens are having ignorance towards books and individually as well as ideas. Therefore, individuality is worth fighting for otherwise, the ignorance will lead to prejudice and destruction, which is currently shown in several characters, demonstrating the importance of individuality. Individuality impacts innovation, maintains our identity it’s vital...
Words: 810 - Pages: 4
...“If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you'll never learn,” is what Ray Bradbury said in his book, Fahrenheit 451. This ignorance, when discovered and learned from, can cause a surplus of wisdom and knowledge to appear. The resulting knowledge and wisdom that appear can cause a flurry of new ideas and different perspective to appear in people. Those who remain ignorant, however, are beguiled into remaining in their own world of false bliss. In Fahrenheit 451, several characters have displayed their ignorance, but not all of them have learned from their ignorance. Characters such as Montag and Faber did not hide their ignorance and therefore learned from it whereas characters such as Mildred remained hidden within their own ignorance....
Words: 718 - Pages: 3
...Guy Montag from Fahrenheit 451 deals with conflict in his society. In the book, the theme is ignorance against knowledge. Guy’s society gains ignorance through the media and his society’s way of controlling its people. Since Guy and the rest of the people in his society are exposed only to what is “normal”, they don’t get the chance to gain knowledge. Guy gains knowledge through Clarisse and Faber because they open up Guy’s viewpoints. However, when Guy tries to educate others it doesn’t always go smooth because of the society’s insistence that their society shouldn’t be changed. In the story, Guy himself shows his ignorance in the book by showing his possessed joy of burning books. Guy Montag tells about his joy for his job, “ It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and changed.’’(pg.1)(paragraph 1) Guy himself shows ignorance by doing his job, which is burning...
Words: 500 - Pages: 2
...“ ‘Millie? …’ he whispered. ‘What?’ ‘I didn’t mean to startle you. What I want to know is…’ ‘Well?’ ‘When did we meet? And where?’ ” (42-43) A corrupted society by today’s standards, filled with blank faces and absent minds. Information censored to the liking of a degenerate government. The lives of the people were all vacant hotel rooms, except for the one man who checked in, Guy Montag. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury elucidates the fact that a lack of knowledge leads to ignorance; this is discovered when the characters in the book who are exposed to knowledge see large growth in their observance and overall understanding of life. In part one of the novel, Guy Montag is characterized with nescience. Bradbury points this out on page 9 of...
Words: 285 - Pages: 2
...Knowledge vs. Ignorance In fahrenheit 451 struggle revolves around the tension between knowledge and ignorance. Firemen destroy knowledge of all forms, books in perticlar. This doesn’t stop Montag though. He is given many struggles because he wants to learn. I feel like this is somewhat relevant to nowadays society. We faced with those who want to be knowledged but majority has turned to substance and have become consumed in it. Society in fahrenheit 451 is very similar to today’s society. The education system is at a falling point and ignorance is growing. What though should become more important substance or knowledge and growing to a person. Ignorance vs. knowledge is a very apparent theme in the Book “Fahrenheit 451". It is expressed subtly throughout the novel enough to make it apperent that the author, Ray Bradbury, wants you to understand the importance. The theme is expressed by characters of both sides, ignorant and knowledged. "Number one, as I said, quality of information. Number two: leisure to digest it. Number three: the right to carry out actions based on what we learn from the interaction in the first two." (81, part 2). This quotes is from later in the book, but it states how Faber used knowledge to his advantage compared to the rest of society. Many more quotes occur from Faber like this. He truley expresses his love and passion of the importance of knowledge in the book. To start what exactly is ignorance and knowledge? Who shows the two sides and how?...
Words: 1145 - Pages: 5
...Fahrenheit 451 revolves in the bizarre era where everyone and everything is controlled by the government. From the beginning, since Montag and Clarisse met, he thought that Clarisse was different from the rest of the people even himself. He mentioned that Clarisse had a very thin face like the dial of the small clock which tells the time, the hour, minute, and second. Clarisse knows the time, she knows the truth, the facts, and she is like a mirror that reflects deep thoughts of the people. She made Montag curious about what happiness really is, true love, pure emotions, and knowledge, in which is not embraced in their society, making him the outsider. In this society, ignorance is a bliss;reigning across their culture, and what is thought to be the answer for happiness. There are many reasons why ignorance revolves in the society where this story took place. The fireman's job is to burn books, which contains the facts and the information, therefore burning knowledge. Books are no longer able to be read, not only because they might offend...
Words: 751 - Pages: 4
...Bradbury's novel, Fahrenheit 451, was written at the onset of the fifties as a call to the American people to reflect on how the dominant social values of their times were effecting both the lives of individual Americans and their government. Fahrenheit 451 attacks utopian government and focuses on society's foolishness of always being politically correct. (Mogen 113). According to Mogen, Fahrenheit 451 depicts a world in which the American Dream has turned into a nightmare because it has been superficially understood. (Mogen 107) In order to understand Bradley's social critique, it is essential to realize that he wrote Fahrenheit 451 in the wake of World War II and the early days of the Cold War, in a political climate that was increasingly favoring security over the civil liberties of individuals (Mogen 124, 114). Due to the Cold War, Americans continuously felt threatened by the idea of communism and the idea of hostility from communist countries (Mogen 115). Any association with communism would immediately ostracize an American politician (Mogen 115). In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury displays a futuristic utopian society where "the people did not read books, enjoy nature, spend time by themselves, think independently, or have meaningful conversations." (Mogen 111). About sixty years later, some would argue that our society has been guilty of similar downfalls. (Book Rags) The government in Fahrenheit 451 bans books because they do not appreciate the thoughts books created peoples...
Words: 1357 - Pages: 6
...Statement of Intent: Independent Study Project: Fahrenheit 451 My tentative topic for this ISP will be Ray Bradbury’s use delusion of truth, the desire of ignorance and the fear of freeing oneself from propaganda to express society’s desire for perfect happiness- no matter the cost- in Fahrenheit 451. In this dystopian novel, Bradbury uses Clarisse and her odd family to foreshadow some of Guy Montag’s doubt in himself, his family and his daily life. Clarisse’s role in the novel is made clearer as Montag begins searching for the truth as she is seen as a guiding light to give Guy hope for a better future where he is happy. Given the government dictated culture they live in, the danger and fear of finding the knowledge that Montag is paid to destroy, there is no doubt that Bradbury is using the dystopian society’s unconscious desire to live a lie, the yearn to not know more and the consequences of finding out the truth in order to highlight society’s solution for happiness: delusion. In this Independent Study Project I will attempt to showcase that seeking out the truth in a government enforced web of lies is unwanted, fear inducing and dangerous. To prove this, I will connect the laws, crimes, those who commit and their consequences with those who ignore the truth and act content with their deluded lives. In doing so, I hope to demonstrate that as Guy Montag figures out the truth, he realizes how much the government dictates the culture he lives in In the paper, I will consider...
Words: 572 - Pages: 3
...to think, humans often get curious and as a result, they speculate about what the future could bring given the way society is at their here and now. One book that focuses on this speculation of the future is Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. Fahrenheit 451 takes place in a dystopian future through the eyes of Guy Montag, where firemen burn books rather than stop fires and society is obsessed with television. A prevalent theme in Fahrenheit 451 is how society as a whole is blind to the truth behind our surroundings. How humans live rejecting enlightenment in favor of the bliss that ignorance grants us, most clearly expressed by the burning of books (the rejection of knowledge) and society’s obsession with television...
Words: 778 - Pages: 4
...“Robert Reilly claims that the novel is "a frightening picture of how the products of science can destroy persons and human values" (67), but this is an unfortunate simplification” (McGiveron). This quote brings up another overlaying theme in Fahrenheit 451 which is the dehumanization of the populace in the novel. The people in this book no longer care about anything whether it be their children, war, death, or the problems in the world around them. This is because the less they had to think the more they stopped to care and they gradually stopped caring about anything at all. Death, war, famine, and pain are all just words to them and mean nothing because they no longer understand the gravity of these concepts and it is all because...
Words: 725 - Pages: 3
...Sometimes as well not sharing the negative things going around in your surrounding has a bigger impact than when books are burned. This might be because you are not helping for this to be heard by others and help it to be stopped. Censorship does come to play in this poem in how there are people like the people who are in control on power in our society, this is represented in the symbolism Stafford uses about “the terrorized countryside where wild dogs own anything that moves.” Lastly, the personification in “ignorance can dance in the absence of fire” is still following up on how not sharing ideas causes for ignorance to make fun of the fear people might have in...
Words: 512 - Pages: 3
...Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a criticism of how society in the future could be. Although the novel was first published in 1951, many of the ideas Bradbury proposes are beginning to become true within today’s society. Bradbury touches upon issues such as censorship, technology, and what society holds as valuable. These issues all appear in today’s society because of the media. One of the biggest themes in Fahrenheit 451 is censorship. This theme is shown throughout the book by the firemen. In this book, the firemen stand as leaders and public figures within the society. The firemen are constantly trying to burn all material items that help the masses gain knowledge. Beatty states, “If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war” (Bradbury 58). This quote shows how keen the firemen are on censoring the public from any ideas or beliefs that may challenge the status quo. The firemen are concerned that if the public is exposed to the ideas proposed in these books, and hear the other side of the story, that they will stray from the common belief system that was established for the society. Fortunately, in today’s America, censorship...
Words: 1007 - Pages: 5
...Tyriq Coleman E2 Honors Begovich In Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, the use of archetypes contributes to the overall strength of the novel. During when the various times the “light vs dark” archetypes are utilized and when the archetypical death and rebirth occurs to convey the extent of which the novel is strengthened by archetypes. In Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 the light vs dark archetype helps show to what extent archetypes are used to strengthen the novel when Montag is conversing with Clarisse after Mildred began reading her script. The author states “He felt his body divide itself into a hotness and a coldness, a softness and a hardness, a trembling and a not trembling, the two halves grinding one upon another.”{Bradbury 21}. In this passage Bradbury is showing that inside Montag the light and dark are warring against each other. As light vs dark are opposites the author uses opposites to show the relationship between the two, for example the comparison between cold and hot, the cold represents the dark as darkness is inherently cold as light provides heat. The two parts grinding against each other show to the light and dark at war, as they at odds at one other. Since they cannot coexist the light and dark in this situation refer to the Montag, in that they are his struggle to free himself from the ignorance that is his societal beliefs. The author also states when Clarisse and Montag walk to her house, "When they reached her house all its lights were blazing" (Bradbury...
Words: 606 - Pages: 3
...In the novel, Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury, happiness is not a common emotion seen throughout the book. Instead we see different examples of depression, anger, and fear. Happiness can play an important and necessary role in the lives of these people, as Aristotle once wrote “happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” Fahrenheit 451 is actually about how knowledge can provide happiness. After meeting Clarisse Montag finds himself unable to accept that he has been living his life wrong. Now believing his life is more complete when knowledge is welcomed to it Montag fights against ignorance trying to help others welcome knowledge into their lives. An example, when Mildred's friends...
Words: 380 - Pages: 2
...“the incineration of knowledge and wisdom” Fahrenheit 451 Kati Hernandez 10/28/14 AP English 12 Period 1 Three Questions 1. When the story starts, what are the forces acting on Montag? 2. Why would Montag read the poem “Dover Beach,” by Matthew Arnold to Mildred and her friends and how is it significant to the novel? 3. Once Montag becomes an insubordinate, why does the government capture an innocent man instead of tracking down Montag? Literary Criticism Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 follows the protagonist Guy Montag, a fireman living in a dystopic society where books are illegal and burnt if found. Instead of reading citizens watch copious amounts of television . Conversations with pedestrians are unheard of until Montag meets Clarisse, “seventeen and insane”(Bradbury 7). She asks multiple questions about his life, one question which changes his outlook on his entire life, “Are you happy?”(Bradbury 10). After his conversation with Clarisse, Montag is conflicted with his job, his disposition, and his desire for knowledge and wisdom. Using a variety of literary elements throughout Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury emphasizes that wisdom and knowledge are acquired through experience and critical thinking. Bradbury uses allegory and alliteration to develop the idea that the censorship and the distractions of society leads to the gradual decay of knowledge. While on the subway, Montag remembers his childhood memory of himself sitting on a yellow...
Words: 2422 - Pages: 10
